Michael Burleigh

Founder and CEO

Sea Change Partners

London, UK

Tonio Burgos

Tonio Burgos and Associates Inc.

Jess Burley

m/SIX

Michael Burleigh’s Biography

Michael Burleigh is a historian and commentator. His books include the best-selling The Third Reich: A New History; Small Wars, Far Away Places: The Genesis of the Modern World 1945–65, which was long-listed for the 2014 Samuel Johnson Prize which he won in 2001, and The Best of Times, The Worst of Times: A History of Now. His book, Populism: Before and After the Pandemic was published in February 2021 and Day of The Assassins: A History of Political Murder was published in May 2021.

He has also been active in bringing history to television audiences and won the British Film Institute Award for Archival Achievement. He writes regularly for The Times, Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday on international affairs.

A Professor of Modern History, Michael was the first appointed Engelsberg Chair in History and International Relations at LSE IDEAS, an annual distinguished visiting professorship, delivering public lectures to LSE's foreign policy think tank.

Michael Burleigh’s Newsfeed

History Today

For Love or Money: a compendious history of political murder.

Michael Burleigh begins his history of political murder with James Bond, who is licensed to kill bad men on behalf of the good.

The Daily Mail

Our world today is as dangerous and mixed-up as it has ever been...

... luckily we have Michael Burleigh to help us make sense of it.

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Michael Burleigh’s Background

Sea Change Partners

Founder and CEO

May 2012 - Present

Michael runs Sea Change Partners, a pure political risk service that advises on major global trends as well as elections, parties, referenda etc. and not on terrorism. The company does not do due diligence or security work.

Media

The Lock In with Jeremy Paxman

Podcast interviewee

Jun 2021

Michael Burleigh talks to Jeremy Paxman about his book 'Day of the Assassins'. It's a blood-spattered thriller of a read, and the conversation covers assassinations of all stripes and from all angles, including the murderers of Trotsky, JFK, Martin Luther King, Caesar, and more.

Publications

Day of the Assassins: A History of Political Murder

Author

May 2021

In Day of the Assassins, Michael Burleigh explores the many facets of political assassination, explaining the role of historical precedent, why it is more frequent in certain types of society than others and asking if assassination can either bring about change, or prevent it, and whether, like a contagious disease, political murder can be catching.

Populism: Before and After the Pandemic

Author

Feb 2021

Drawing on his Engelsberg Lectures, Michael Burleigh explores the new global era of national populism and how elites, autocrats and legacies of empire are driving the present ‘age of anger’.

The Best of Times, The Worst of Times | A History of Now

Author

Since the end of the Second World War, it has been widely assumed that the western model of liberal democracy & free trade is the way the world should be governed. However, events in the early years of the twenty-first century have threatened the general acceptance that continued progress under the benign (or sometimes not so benign) gaze of the western powers is the only way forwards.

The Third Reich | A New History

Author

A broad perspective and intellectual unity to issues that have become academic subspecialties and offers a brilliant new interpretation of Hitler's evil rule.

Small Wars, Far Away Places | The Genesis of the Modern World

Author

After the second world war and the collapse of the Western colonial empires, a number of vicious struggles for power ensued whose bloody consequences haunt us still. A dazzling work of history, which examines the death of colonialism with passion, insight and genuine understanding of what it feels like to be caught in the middle of realpolitik.

Moral Combat | A History of World War II

Author

Presenting readers with a fresh perspective on the conflict during the Second World War, Michael explores the moral sentiment of entire societies and their leaders, and how this changed under the impact of total war.

Blood and Rage | A Cultural History of Terrorism

Author

A history of terrorism across the world which explains and defines the meaning of terrorism and marks its progression from its hard to trace beginnings to the modern-day.

Earthly Powers | The Clash of Religion and Politics in Europe from the French Revolution to the Great War

Author

This book sets out the inextricable link between politics and Religion over the past two centuries from the French Revolution to the present day's War on Terror.

Sacred Causes | Religion and Politics fromthe European Dictators to Al Qaeda

Author

'Sacred Causes' provides a brilliant examination of how religion has shaped twentieth-century Europe from the Great War until the modern-day 'War on Terror'.

The Racial State | Germany 1933-1945

Aurthor

The Nazi regime in Germany tried to restructure a 'class' society along racial lines between 1933 and 1945. This book deals with the ideas and institutions which underpinned this mission, and shows how Nazi policy affected various groups of people, both victims and beneficiaries.

Death and Deliverance

Author

In Death and Deliverance, Michael Burleigh conveys the horrifying history of the Nazi euthanasia project.

Germany Turns Eastwards | A Study of Ostforschung in the Third Reich

Author

Ethics and Extermination | Reflections on Nazi Genocide

Author

This series of essays by one of today's most prolific scholars on German racial policy concerns three interrelated aspects of Nazi Germany: 'euthanasia', extermination and relations with 'the east'.

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Academic Appointments

London School of Economics IDEAS

Engelsberg Chair of History and International Relations

2019 - 2020

London, UK

The Engelsberg Chair is an annual distinguished visiting professorship for leading Swedish & global scholars who will give public lectures on topics of their choice. The annual post gives LSE IDEAS the opportunity to bring renowned academics to the School for a year of research & discussion.

Michael Burleigh’s Education

University College London

BA First Class Honours Modern History; PhD 1982

1974 - 1977